Women in the US Army in Iraq

60 images Created 18 May 2009

Text and Photos

By Heidi Levine

Maj. Rebecca Schieble, 28, had to bind her breasts to stop producing milk when she was deployed to Iraq. Chaplain Maj. Jennifer Johnson says missing her daughter's prom almost broke her heart. Capt. Kristina Connelley wants very much to have a child but is now relegated to hearing her husband, who she outranks, whispering "I love you" as they share a quick, illicit squeeze of hands. Today, female soldiers train alongside male colleagues, learning how to fire assault weapons and move under direct and indirect fire. Accounting for 15 percent of all service people and 10 percent of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, women work as engineers, truck drivers, and pilots and weapons experts, doctors, nurses and military police. Jobs once closed to these women are slowly opening up. But they still face unique problems.

Despite this historical record high percentage of females now enlisted in the US armed forces we know very little about these woman, ranging in age from their teens to their 50's. Some of them are fresh out high school trying to navigate their way in life and yet many of them have been seasoned by life and have children and even grandchildren thousands of miles away back home. Some of these women are just falling in love for their first time and yet there are others who are trying to hold their lives together after a torn marriage, others are caught fighting to maintain their family lives the best they can by grasping onto the Internet and their web cam cameras despite the long distance and long separation. Their political views are varied and many have been altered during their deployment but the common thread that intertwines these women of all roles, religion, age and sociological backgrounds together is their goal to be recognized in the US army as not a female nor a male but to become the best soldier they possibly can.